Key Takeaways:

• Festival named The Base Camp Sessions will use LED wireless headphones
• Attendance limited to trekkers completing a 12-day guided Khumbu trek
• Proceeds to support glacier monitoring and Sherpa community projects

KATHMANDU, JULY 16 The Green Tara Foundation has announced plans to organise what it calls the world's first silent music festival at Everest Base Camp on October 17, aiming to promote adventure tourism while protecting the mountain environment. Named The Base Camp Sessions, the event will be held at 5,364 metres, with participants listening through LED wireless headphones instead of loudspeakers to avoid disturbing the surroundings. Attendance will be restricted to trekkers completing a 12-day guided trek in the Khumbu region, with equipment transported under leave-no-trace protocols using yaks and helicopters. A parallel event will also take place in Kathmandu, capped at 1,000 participants. The festival will be streamed globally via a US$1 online pass, with organisers pledging transparency by publishing all revenue and expenditure in real time and releasing audited accounts within 90 days. Proceeds will fund glacier monitoring, Sherpa community projects and other environmental programmes. Founder Kamir Lala said the concept was designed to celebrate Everest without disturbing its natural environment, while Director Bhawana Manandhar described it as a chance for Nepal to host a global event rooted in sustainability. 'Everest has heard helicopters, generators and crowds. It has never heard a festival - and it never will. That is the entire point. The mountain gets silence; the world gets the show,' Lala added. Organisers are also applying to Guinness World Records for recognition as the highest-altitude silent-headphone event, with a public headset design competition open until August 31. If successful, the festival will be among the highest-altitude music events ever staged, drawing international attention to Nepal's adventure tourism sector while promoting environmentally responsible celebrations.